Tag Archives: glitter

Manicure Monday: Black and Blue Glitter Mess

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So I’m really excited about this week’s manicure. There are some things I would do differently, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Also, I’ll be wearing my first indie polish this week, and mostly I’m excited about that.

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I really love my polishes this week. Outrageous is a soft taupe with a lot of metallic shimmer that goes on opaque in one coat. I’m pretty impressed with it, considering I paid a dollar for the bottle. I really loved it before I put the glitter on over it, and I might regret it a little. The real star here is the glitter anyway.

LA Colors's Outrageous, Pretty & Polished's Boy Bleu

LA Colors’s Outrageous, Pretty & Polished’s Boy Bleu

Boy Bleu from Pretty & Polished is one of the first indie polishes I ever bought. It’s meant to be a full coverage glitter, giving a granite-like appearance. Here’s where I messed up. I thought that dabbing the glitter on instead of brushing it on would give me the most coverage, and I was a little heavy-handed in my application. My accent nails already had two coats of white polish before I added the glitter, just to make up for any bare spots that might have occurred. Thankfully, I didn’t need it, but because the coarse glitter made cleanup difficult, you can now see it around the cuticles. I’m not even sure why you can see it at the tips. Shrinkage, maybe? I don’t know, but there it is. So with the two coats of underwear, the two very thick coats of glitter, and three coats of Seche Vite, the accent nails are much thicker-looking than the others. It kind of bothers me, but it’s not that bad. I actually put so much on that I could shape and mold it with my fingers. Good thing I did, I would have had some strangely shaped nails.

Next time I’ll apply the glitter in thin coats and hope to build coverage that way, rather than trying to load it all on at once. I’ll still probably end up with fat nails again, but it won’t be so problematic.

Manicure Monday: Undersea Epic Glitter Gradient

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The first day of fall is this week, and so the viciously bright neons and the whimsical glitter mixes are being put into storage for next year, and the dark muted colors are coming back. Well, for some people that’s happening. It’s not happening here. I’ll wear my neon orange whenever I want. I am, though, going to be using a lot of blue colors throughout the season. A lot of my recently acquired colors are blues, and I’ll be trying lots of colors I’ve never used before, ones I’ve had for a few days and ones I’ve had for a few years. I have some great things planned for this season.

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I did a similar manicure in July, and decided to try it again with different colors. I like it much better this time. The dark blue side of the Moon Candy is almost black, but over the white, it’s very blue. After putting the shredded glitter over the blue tips, I got this wonderful oceanic effect. It really makes me want to book it to the beach. I know this was meant to be a fall manicure, but as it invokes thoughts of swimming, of sunshine and water, it’s anything but appropriate for fall.

This was intentionally blurred to show the colors. Maybe.

This was intentionally blurred to show the colors. Maybe.

Of course, I encountered a few problems with this week. Something I’ve consistently had trouble with is Revlon’s double-ended polishes. I’ve had the brushes start losing bristles, I’ve had the cap break completely off, and I’ve had the polishes completely dry out. The Moon Dust I used this week was one of those. I had to thin out the glitter side once before, when I noticed the agitator ball was suspended in the middle of the polish. When I opened it to use it this week, I had the same issue. The blue was thick, stringy, goopy. The glitter was impossible to remove from the bottle. I put some thinner in it and let it sit overnight, but maybe I used too much, because it was kind of watery. I also had a hard time getting the colors to blend, and once the watery glitter was added, it kind of smeared the gradient around. I’d be mad if I didn’t like it so much.

Sally Hansen's Hard to Get, Revlon's Moon Candy in Moon Dust.

Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Revlon’s Moon Candy in Moon Dust.

I went back to Seche Vite this week because my Digital Nails topcoat is now this strange reddish orange color, and I was afraid it would affect the white polish. I was also afraid it wouldn’t smooth out the coarse glitter as well. Hard to Get is back, too. This bottle is like a workhorse. I use it for everything, and as a result, it’s almost time for a new bottle.

So yeah, fall manicures. Bring it on.

Manicure Monday: Orange and Nude Sparkly Starburst

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I feel like orange is a color that doesn’t get enough play. I only have a few orange pieces of clothing, and I only have a few bottles of orange polish, even though I have hundreds of bottles of polish. I guess it’s unpopular because it’s so bright and attracts a lot of attention, but that’s exactly why I like it.

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This week, I made a starburst thing with orange polish over striping tape, nude, and holographic glitter. It was inspired by a stamp plate I have, with stripes fanning out over the nail. However, in all my test runs, I absolutely could not get the stamped design to cover my nail the way I wanted, so I tried it with the striping tape. I like this look, but I wish I’d used more pieces to make more lines, to make the color and glitter beneath slightly more noticeable.

Intentionally blurred to show off the glitter.

Intentionally blurred to show off the glitter.

I worked with some great colors with week. The nude is Naked, from Urban Decay’s (now very rare) Naked nail set. I hated neutral nail colors before I got this set. Naked is such a subtle but gorgeous shade that I felt a little bad that I was going to cover up most of it. I added the Fairy Dust glitter on impulse; I thought a soft sparkle would make the nude lines stand out more. The orange is an Insta-Dri color called Heat Flash, and it’s fantastic. I got great coverage in one quick drying coat.

Urban Decay's Naked, China Glaze's Fairy Dust, Sally Hansen's Heat Flash

Urban Decay’s Naked, China Glaze’s Fairy Dust, Sally Hansen’s Heat Flash

I love this mani, but there are a few things I’ll do differently next time. First, I want to strike a higher contrast between the colors. I really want the starburst pattern to stand out, so I’ll use black over white or light blue over dark blue. Next, I’ll use more tape and add more lines. Maybe I’ll add rhinestones to the vertices to give it something extra. For now though, I’m pleased.

Manicure Monday: Pink and Brown Flakie Gradient Thing

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This wasn’t the manicure I had planned when I started. I wanted a water marble with this pink and a pastel yellow, Julep’s Blake. I used two coats of it, and got one hand marbled, and then completely ran out of the yellow.  It was about half full from the last water marble I did, and the Julep bottles are so small that I’ll go through half a bottle without realizing it. I’m a little miffed I only got two manicures from that one bottle. So there I was, one hand finished, one not, no other pastel yellow polish to use instead. I tried a neon yellow, and it just turned everything orange. I gave up and started over. I dug around in my bag for hours, looking for something I hadn’t used yet. I saw the Moon Candy in there and said “Hey, why not?”.

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I liked the brown and pink gradient on its own, and at first, I was hesitant to add the flakie glitter. It reminded me of this ridiculous ice cream my boyfriend ate when he lived here that was chocolate and cherry and even had these heart-shaped chocolates with cherry filling. It’s excellent break-up ice cream. Anyway, so I was thinking about that, and I almost used heart glitter instead of the flakies, but I’m glad I didn’t. I like the way it came out. Also, something completely new to me is using both kinds of gradients together. I’d either do a color gradient or a glitter gradient, but never both at the same time. I like the dimension I get from doing both.

 

Sinful Colors' Soul Mate, Revlon Moon Candy in Universe

Sinful Colors’ Soul Mate, Revlon Moon Candy in Universe

On an unrelated note, this manicure survived mowing the lawn right after being finished. I thought I’d chip at least one, for sure, but nothing happened. I have failed twice at mowing my own lawn, first because the mower ran out of gas and I didn’t realize it, and the second time because it started breathing smoke. At least my manicure is intact.

Even nice nails make dirty hands look good.

Even nice nails make dirty hands look good.

Manicure Monday: French Pink and White Gradient

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So this is my idea of a professional manicure. I’m going on a business trip to Boston, and I wanted a manicure that was office-friendly without giving up glitter. Here I am, having my cake and eating it too.

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It looked different in my head, but I’m pretty happy with the result. From a distance, it looks like the traditional French manicure, and the glitter is hardly noticeable. I tried to be professional while still being myself, but I may have done better than I thought.

Another angle for glitter.

Another angle for glitter.

I still can’t get over how long my nails are.

Julep's Emmanuelle, Sally Hansen's Hard to Get, Sinful Colors' Pearl Harbor

Julep’s Emmanuelle, Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Sinful Colors’ Pearl Harbor

That Julep polish was full when I started.